What if… we focused on the long carbon cycle?
What if…? Why not…?
These are the types of questions we like to help clients ask. For example, what if the world wanted to get serious about carbon removal from the atmosphere by building an industry that would focus exclusively on promoting the long carbon cycle?
For those who don’t know, the short (or fast) carbon cycle completes within years, moving carbon between the atmosphere and biosphere. The long (or slow) carbon cycle operates over millions of years, moving carbon between the earth’s crust and atmosphere.
What systems would need to be institutionalized to build such an industry? As an experiment, we asked ChatGPT. Here’s what it said – or possibly plagiarized…
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Infrastructure
➤ Expansion of CCS facilities to capture CO2 from industrial sources, power plants, and directly from the atmosphere
➤ Investment in mapping of geologic formations where captured CO2 can be stored for millennia
Regulatory Framework
➤ Laws and regulations that mandate and incentivize long-term carbon storage
➤ Robust carbon credit systems that reward long-term storage and avoids double-counting with short-term sequestration
Research and Development
➤ Investment in discovery of materials that can enhance efficiency and reduce energy requirements of CCS technologies
➤ Improvement of models to predict long-term stability of stored CO2 and establish global monitoring networks
Economic Incentives
➤ Government funding and incentives for companies operating in this new industry
➤ New and enhanced carbon pricing mechanisms that encourage investment in long-term storage
Public-Private Partnerships
➤ Collaborative projects between governments, private companies, and research institutions
➤ Promotion of international cooperation to standardize and share practices and fund large projects
Education and Advocacy
➤ Public awareness campaigns on the importance of the long-carbon cycle
➤ Training programs for engineers, scientists, and policymakers
Financial Models and Insurance
➤ Institutional-grade financial products and investment funds focused on long-term carbon storage projects
➤ Insurance products to cover potential risks like leakage or seismic activity
Global Standards and Accountability
➤ Global standards for measuring, reporting, and verifying long-term carbon storage
➤ Creation of institutions responsible for monitoring and management of storage sites
What’s your enterprise’s “what if…” or “why not…”? We empower leadership teams to ask these questions, identify the elements of a long-term strategy that must be addressed, make smart decisions about where and how to begin, and be prepared to adapt plans based on a changing context.
Follow Tilt Global for more content on the challenges of navigating the energy transition and how we can help your team make better, faster decisions with confidence.